Dates

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Genres and Modes

Context

Early in his documentary-essay Magnetic North (2008),
Jonathan Meades extols the herring as the defining staple of
Northern Europe, comparable to the Mediterranean olive, and
“infinitely preferable to lobster or sole”. From Arras to Helsinki,
a dish of herring with the local tipple punctuates his meander
along the coast, leitmotiv as celebration. But Meades was not the
first to praise the fish. A stray snippet by John Taylor the Water
Poet, four centuries earlier, noted:

Tom Nash a witty pamphlet did enditeIn praise of Herrings, both the red and write. (Taylor, sig.
Fff2v)

Taylor was here referring, in the course of a long litany of
previous mock encomia, to Nashe’s …

3323Nashe's Lenten Stuff3Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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